Nokia N97 Mini (unlocked)

We had high hopes for the Nokia N97 when we checked it out in June 2009. Armed with a touch screen and a long list of features, it looked like the flagship model of the Nokia N series would be a hit. Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite the opposite. Plagued with a poor user interface and lackluster performance, the N97 was forgettable, especially as the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android devices hit the scene. However, not one to give up, Nokia came back with the Nokia N97 Mini ($479 unlocked). Sporting a more compact and revamped design, the N97 Mini is most definitely an improvement over its bigger brother. Performance is better and it’s still very much a feature-packed smartphone. That said, the N97 Mini’s UI is still confusing and frustrating to use; given that there a number of other similarly featured and simpler touch-screen smartphones on the market today, we can’t see the N97 Mini attracting too many users other than Symbian/Nokia fanboys and fangirls.

Design
The Nokia N97 Mini is appropriately named because it is essentially a mini version of the Nokia N97. The smartphone measures 4.45 inches tall by 2.07 inches wide by 0.56 inch deep and weighs 4.87 ounces, whereas the N97 came in at 4.61 inches tall by 2.18 inches wide by 0.63 inch thick and 5.29 ounces. Just by looking at the numbers, the difference in size doesn’t seem all that great, but in hand, it’s definitely noticeable and appreciated. The N97 Mini is a much more pocket-friendly device, not to mention a more solid one. Nokia replaced the plastic battery cover with a stainless steel one, giving the phone a more substantial feel and not one of a plastic toy.

As its name would suggest, the Nokia N97 Mini is a smaller version of the N97 and includes some design improvements.

Given the smaller size, it’s no surprise that the screen size was also scaled back. The N97 Mini has a 3.2-inch QVGA (640×360) resistive touch screen that displays up to 16.7 million colors. The display is sharp and vibrant and features an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the screen’s brightness. In addition, it has a proximity sensor and a built-in accelerometer that was quick to change the screen’s orientation from portrait to landscape mode and vice versa. As we stated in our N97 review, we would have preferred a capacitive touch screen over a resistive one, but our issue wasn’t so much with that as it was with the user interface.

The N97 was plagued with inconsistencies that negatively affected the user experience. For example, some menu items required one tap to open and others required two. In addition, sometimes multiple steps were involved just to complete a simple task, and scrolling through lists could be a laborious and jerky. It was a completely confusing and frustrating. A subsequent firmware 2.0 update was released and incorporated into the N97 Mini; that alleviates some but not all of the problems.

Improvements were made to the touch-screen algorithms for better performance, and we did feel like the display was more responsive. You also now get kinetic scrolling for pages and menu items, so when you reach the end or top of the list, it snaps back like elastic. Unfortunately, what we didn’t get was a more uniform and simpler menu system that would have made an otherwise good smartphone excellent and would’ve given it a fighting chance against the other major touch-screen smartphones on the market today.

Switching gears to the N97 Mini’s keyboard, Nokia has removed the D-pad that used to occupy the left side, making way for a more spacious and more ergonomic keyboard. There’s an adequate amount of spacing between the buttons, so you shouldn’t have too many mispresses. Overall, we found it pretty decent to use. The keys are slightly stiff to press, which slowed us down a bit, and the space key is still off-center. It’s a bit better in that the space bar is longer and moved over slightly, but it’s still a far stretch if you want to hit it with your left thumb.

On a side note, prepare to use some arm muscles to slide open the phone. The slider is really solid but incredibly stiff, so it requires a strong push to get it open. We had an unsuspecting friend try it out and the phone ended up flying out of her hands because she was pushing so hard on the bottom of the screen. It loosens up a bit after some use, but those initial tries might surprise you.

The N97 Mini’s keyboard is much easier to use than its bigger brother’s but still has some issues.

Rounding out the design are touch-sensitive Talk and End keys and a Main Menu button below the display and a power button and 3.5mm headphone jack on top of the device. On, the left side, there’s a Micro-USB port and a lock switch; a volume rocker and camera button are on the right. The camera will activate as soon as you hit the latter, since there is no longer a protective cover over the camera lens on back.

The Nokia N97 comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, a cleaning cloth, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Features
The Nokia N97 Mini retains a lot of the features offered by the N97, but there were a couple of cuts made to help keep the price and size of the phone down. The biggest difference is that you now get 8GB of internal memory instead of 32GB. However, there is a microSD expansion slot behind the battery cover than can accommodate up to 16GB cards. Another minor loss is the FM transmitter.

One feature you do gain is free voice-guided navigation. Nokia recently announced that it’s scrapping the monthly and annual license fees for Ovi Maps navigation service, so not only do you get the maps, but you also get text-to-speech spoken directions and premium content, such as Lonely Planet city guides, weather forecasts, and event information. The app is available as a free download for 10 of Nokia’s current handsets and will come preloaded on the company’s future GPS-enabled smartphones.

Aside from these changes, the two devices are pretty much the same. We’ll elaborate more on some of the N97 Mini’s functions in the Performance section below, but for a detailed list of the phone’s features, please read our full review of the Nokia N97.

Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) Nokia N97 Mini in New York using AT&T service and call quality gets two thumbs up. There was very little to no background noise to distract us from the conversation, and there wasn’t any type of voice distortion of muffling. We also didn’t experience any dropped calls and had no problem using an airline’s voice automated response system. On the other side, friends had mostly good things to say about the audio quality, though one did say he could hear a bit of an echo at times. As expected, the call quality degraded a bit when we activated the speakerphone. Though there was plenty of volume, even in louder environments, calls sounded a bit hollow.

Then N97 Mini supports AT&T’s 3G bands, which provided good speeds and reliable coverage during our testing period. It took 27 seconds for CNET’s full site to load; CNN and ESPN’s mobile sites loaded in 8 seconds and 6 seconds, respectively. The N97 Mini’s browser did a good job of displaying pages and it supports multiple windows and Flash Lite. However, navigation is a bit clunky. For example, you can’t simply start entering a URL to go to a new site. You have to first press the arrow button on the bottom right-hand corner and then press the globe icon and then enter the Web address. To zoom, you can simply double-tap on the screen, which is often necessary to click on any links since it’s difficult to precisely touch the small text with just your fingertip.

The smartphone’s media player is decent. It supports a number of music formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, and you can create playlists on the fly and also adjust sound with the built-in equalizer. We listened to various genres of music and were happy with the sound quality, but like the speakerphone calls, tracks sounded a bit sunken through the phone’s speakers. The N97 Mini is capable of playing video as well, but unfortunately, it only supports a limited number of video codecs. We watched several MP4 clips and for the most part, playback was smooth, but image quality could sometimes get a little fuzzy.

On the other hand, the smartphone’s 5-megapixel camera certainly delivered on picture quality. Equipped with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens and a dual-LED flash, auto focus, 14x digital zoom, and various editing options, we got great shots indoors and outdoors. Objects were clearly defined and colors were vibrant. The camera can also capture VGA video at up to 30 frames per second, and the video quality was quite decent, especially for a camera phone.

We were quite happy with the picture quality.

Overall, the N97 Mini felt like a faster and more stable machine than the N97. There was still some lag and delays when working in multiple apps, but we certainly noticed the difference in responsiveness between the two devices. The Nokia N97 Mini features a 1,200mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 7.17 hours (GSM)/4 hours (3G) and up to 13.3 days (GSM)/12.9 (3G) days of standby time. We are still conducting our battery drain tests but will update this section as soon as we have final results. According to FCC radiation tests, the N97 Mini has a digital SAR rating of 0.91 watt per kilogram.

Cnet.

Reviews: Pantech Impact

The Pantech Impact (available for $50 with a two-year AT&T contract; price as of January 25, 2010) provides a solid camera and a full-QWERTY keyboard, but its sensitive touchpad, oddly placed keys, and complicated phone-call mechanics keep it from being a top messaging phone.

The flip phone, which measures 4.2 by 2 by 0.5 inches, is a bit bulky. At 4.5 ounces, it doesn’t seem to weigh much in the hand, but it definitely can sag in a pocket. The 240-by-400-pixel display measures just over 2.6 inches–somewhat small compared with the screens of other phones, but about the same size as a BlackBerry’s display. The screen and the QWERTY keyboard hide on the inside of the flip top. The exterior of the phone has a number pad and a small, inch-wide OLED display that goes dormant when the device is inactive. Included with the Impact are a thick instruction booklet and a wall plug.

Like the Pantech Reveal, the Impact maintains a clean start-up screen and hides all of its apps and other items under two tabs: Shortcuts and Menu. The main screen shows the time and date, carrier, and battery power. The Shortcuts section is empty until you place shortcuts to your favorite apps in it. The screen’s clean front is admirable, but having to press an additional button from the main screen to access everything you need on the phone seems tedious. The Menu has ten items: Address Book, Messaging, Mobile Email, Mobile Web, AppCenter, AT&T GPS, YPmobile (Yellow Pages), My Stuff, AT&T Music, and Settings.

Strangely, making phone calls on the Impact is more difficult than it should be. To make a call, you must press the Hold button on the phone’s spine to activate a dialer menu on the front display. This setup causes a few problems: First, you have to keep pressing the Hold button in order to dial, and it’s easy to release the button accidentally and cause the keys to stop responding. Second, the phone’s smooth shell means that the number keys have no physical separation, so hitting the wrong key is a strong possibility.

The key layout on the inside of the phone is a challenge to use, too. The slippery touchpad is located on the upper-right corner–immediately above the back/delete button. While maneuvering around the touchpad, expect to leave a Website or close an application by mistake–a lot. The keyboard is a bit better however, as the keys are responsive and have slight separations between them.

Call quality on the Pantech Impact is about average. A quad-band GSM/GPRS phone using AT&T’s 3G network, the Impact has so-so clarity. The phone is also Bluetooth 2.0 compatible.

Despite the 3G connectivity, the phone’s online multimedia performance isn’t great. In our tests, complex media-driven sites such as PCWorld.com and ESPN.com loaded fine, though the Impact’s browser doesn’t support Flash. YouTube and other video sites had fair visuals, probably as a result of the phone’s own fuzzy resolution; video downloads seemed to chug along at lesser, EDGE-quality speeds, too.

Offline, however, the Pantech Impact shines in the video department. Though it lacks a flash, the 2-megapixel camera and camcorder seems to absorb nearby brightness well. You can capture shots and video with several different buttons on the Impact–all according to your preference–and serious photogs can adjust brightness levels, composition, and other settings within the device. The sound in videos could be a little higher, but the Impact is quite functional for a feature phone.

The Impact’s other multimedia features are pretty lackluster. The included AT&T Music app has the usual rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward buttons, and a couple other details. Unfortunately the Impact doesn’t come with a USB cable, an accessory that has become commonplace for feature phones. Want to listen to music? You have to buy an additional cord, or purchase tunes exclusively through the AT&T Music store. Once you’re set up, though, the phone has good external speakers.

The Pantech Impact sits awkwardly between text-friendly phones, many of which offer a better design for messaging, and touchscreen powerhouses, all of which are more capable of handling multimedia. Unfortunately, the Impact doesn’t quite succeed at either task. If you’re looking for an inexpensive but full-featured phone on AT&T, you might consider the LG Neon (which has a slightly better keyboard) or the Sony Ericsson Walkman W518a (which has stronger multimedia features)

The good:

Good camera/camcorder

Solid full-QWERTY keyboard

The bad:

Small buttons make missteps easy

Awkward design

The bottom line:

Though the Pantech Impact has some solid features, the phone’s awkward design makes the simplest of tasks downright tedious.

Specs:

Display

Diagonal Display Size	2.6 inches
Display Resolution	400 x 240 inches
Display Type	Color
Number of Displays	Two

Operating System

OS Supported

Proprietary

Camera

MegaPixels	2 MP
Flash	No
Camera Shutter	No

Form Factor

Form Factor

Clamshell

Battery

Battery Type	Lithium ion
Vendor Rated Standby Time	5 hours
Vendor Rated Talk Time	336 hours

Dimensions

Dimensions	4.2 by 2 by 0.5 inches
Weight	4.5 oz.

Carrier

Carrier

AT&T

Cellular Frequency Technology

Cellular Technology (Voice + Data)

GSM 1800 GSM 1900 GSM 850 GSM 900 HSDPA UMTS

Features

Antenna Type	Internal
FM Radio	No
GPS	Yes
Music Playback	No
Voice Memo Recorder	No
Volume Control	No

Audio

Audio Inputs

3.5 mm headset jack

Connectivity

Other Connectivity

A2DP Bluetooth DUN Stereo Bluetooth

Included Software

Included Software

AppCenter, AT&T GPS, YPmobile (Yellow Pages), My Stuff, AT&T Music

Mail

Exchange	No
IMAP4	Yes
POP3	Yes
SMTP	Yes

Media

MP3	Yes
Other Media	AAC Plus WAV

Messaging

Messaging

E-Mail EMS IM MMS

Sync

Bluetooth Sync	Yes
Other Sync	USB
USB2	Yes

User Interface

Backlighting	Yes
Keyboard	Yes
Predictive Text Entry (T9)	Yes
Touchscreen	No

Video

Streaming Video	Yes
Video Calling Conference	No

News :Microsoft eyes clean break with Windows Mobile 7

Microsoft’s long and winding road toward regaining lost ground in the cell phone business will reach an important milestone in Barcelona next month.

At the annual Mobile World Congress event, Microsoft will at long last show off Windows Mobile 7–its oft-delayed major revamp of the decade-old Windows CE code base that has been at the core of its mobile operating system since the days of challenging the Palm Pilot.

Sources told CNET that Microsoft is still planning to finalize the code for Windows Mobile 7 by summer in order to have the new software on devices that ship before the end of the year.

Separately, though, Microsoft is also working on a new consumer phone line, early pictures of which cropped up last year, that is designed to be the next generation of the Sidekick product line that Microsoft inherited with its acquisition of Danger.

Although it is not a widely rumored “Zune Phone,” the new consumer device is based on Windows Mobile and likely to be able to connect to Zune and other consumer services that Microsoft has been developing for some time now, sources said. That product, also due to arrive this year, should come earlier in the year ahead of Windows Mobile 7 devices.

Microsoft declined to comment on Windows Mobile 7 or the new consumer device, but Robbie Bach, the head of the company’s entertainment division, did tell CNET in an interview at January’s Consumer Electronics Show that Microsoft would have a lot more to say about the future of the phone business in Barcelona. Microsoft has also promised developers headed to the Mix 10 trade show in March that they will be able to get information on how to program for Windows Mobile 7.

“Yes, at MIX10 you’ll learn about developing applications and games for the next generation of Windows Phone,” Microsoft said on the Mix Web site in a Jan. 20 update. “Yes, we’ll have Phone sessions, and we can’t say more…yet.”

Although Microsoft has typically been loath to make major changes to the desktop version of Windows at the expense of compatibility, the software maker appears ready to make a bigger break with its mobile past–a sensible move given its declining share of both the market and developer interest.

With Windows Mobile 7 hit by several delays, Microsoft last year released Windows Mobile 6.5, an interim update designed to make the current operating system more “finger-friendly” on touch-based devices. The company also rebranded devices using its operating system as “Windows Phones” and launched a new marketing campaign.

At the same time, though, longtime Windows Mobile phone makers including Motorola and HTC have been gravitating toward Google’s Android mobile phone operating system. LG, which had planned to center its smartphone efforts on Windows Mobile, has also said it will offer a number of Android-based devices.

How to :Share and Stream Digital Media Between Windows 7 Machines On Your Home Network

One of the cool new features in Windows 7 is the ability to stream digital media to different computers throughout your house. Here we will show you how to set up Windows Media Player in Windows 7 to share and stream videos, music, and other digital media to Windows 7 machines.

To stream video to another computer on your home network they will all need to be running Windows 7 with Windows Media Player 12. In our example we will stream video from a computer running Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) to another machine running Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit) which are part of the same Homegroup.

Setup Streaming

The first thing you’ll want to do is turn on media streaming. Type media streaming into the search box in the Start menu and select Media streaming options.

Now select your media streaming options. Choose a name for the media library, and make sure all the computers on your network you want to have access are allowed. If both computers are part of a Homegroup, everything is shared by default anyway, but you might want to double check. Or you might want to block certain computers from the streaming options.

You can also choose some custom settings if you want. For instance, maybe you want certain computers to only have access to music or certain files with a particular rating. For this demonstration we are opening everything up, but if you want to control what other users access, keep these settings in mind.

Now open up Windows Media Player and in Library view click on Stream and check Automatically allow devices to play my media. To be able to play content on one machine over to another we need to enable Allow remote control of my Player. This makes it so your computer is a remote control of sorts.

Then click Allow remote control on this network when the dialog box comes up.

Because we are making everything wide open to all computers, we need to enable the above settings on both computers. If you have multiple computers on your network you can set them all up to share their libraries too. Now when you go into Windows Media Player under the Library view you’ll see Other Libraries and will see the other computers on your network.

Stream To a Machine

Now comes the cool part…playing video or music from the library of one machine to another machine. Make sure the machine you want to play the media to has WMP up and running. Right-click a media file and select Play to from the context menu and select the machine to play it to. In this example we only have one other machine to choose from, and playing an X-files episode from the library in WMP.

Then you’ll see the Play To controller with the media listed. From here you can control the playback and volume.

Then the video starts playing through WMP on the other machine.

You aren’t just limited to playing digital media from WMP either. Here we’re in a video directory where we have season 2 of Star Trek DS9. Select the episodes to play, right-click and Play To…

Playing music files to another machine…

Pictures too…

Again from the Play To control you can switch the order of the files and skip to others.

You can simply drag and drop other files that you want to add into it as well.

Conclusion

This is a great way to play your digital files from one location to another. You might have a bunch of movies or music on a laptop in your bedroom, and want to play them to your media center in the living room. The combinations are essentially limitless. Playback on other machines is generally smooth provided you have a decent home network with Gigabit speed,which most new routers and machines are capable of. You can definitely stream video over a wireless connection, but make sure it’s a fast connection. If wireless speeds are too slow…setup computers on the network wired with CAT5e cable wherever possible.

Howtogeek.

2010 Mazda 3 GX Review

This is a little Japanese car with the soul of a German machine. Not because it costs an arm and a leg. On the contrary, it’s quite affordable. Its German-ness stems from its performance on the road, or from the surprising stiffness of its chassis. I am of course talking about the 2010 Mazda3 GX.

Although the Mazda3 GX is a basic model, it certainly isn’t bare!

Yet, this compact sedan in no way resembles a BMW 128i. It is but the humble competitor of popular cars like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Kia Forte and Ford Focus.

Cheap, but by no means bare

Because it’s a basic model, you would think it would be pretty bare and rather bland. But the opposite is true, and its driving dynamics confirm it. Zoom Zoom, indeed.

But this cheapest of Mazdas (while we wait for the Mazda2 to arrive) isn’t the cheapest compact sedan out there. If you compare base prices with the competition, the Focus S costs $996 less, the Corolla CE $735, the Elantra S $146 and the Civic DX $5. You get the idea. Naturally, these price differences tend to level out the minute you start spiffing up the cars with various extras.

German on the road

So, what’s so German about the Mazda3? First, its driving dynamics. The Hiroshima firm has given its Mazda3 GX a precise, well-balanced power steering system, aggressive brakes that are easy to measure out and even a delightfully stiff suspension whose settings will be sure to please driving enthusiasts. A unique combination where affordable cars are concerned.

This is in fact one of the few compact cars whose standard equipment includes four wheel disc brakes with ABS. Only the Kia Forte and Ford Focus pack as much goodies into a basic model.

And the standard five-speed manual transmission deserves high praise. Even the GX’s lowly status didn’t prevent the automaker from pulling out all the stops here. Drivers will discover a precise gearbox with judiciously spaced gears that, along with the well-calibrated clutch, ensures worry-free operation even in dense traffic.

A sprightly 4-cylinder, 2.0-litre, 148-hp mill slumbers under the swooping hood.

Finally, the GX rests on 16-inch steel wheels shod in all-season tires that are “just wide enough” (205/55R16). With its stiff suspension, large wheels would mean Spartan comfort for the occupants. Not to mention a hike in prices when shopping for winter tires.

The interior of the GX is a study in blackness. Not for the claustrophobic.

Sprightly engine

The GX version is exclusive to Canada. Canadians are in fact quite taken with compact cars. That doesn’t stop this Mazda3 from sharing its 4-cylinder, 2.0-litre, multivalve engine with the GS, a 148-hp, high-revving mill that features great acceleration and throttle response.

It drives the front wheels by way of the aforementioned manual transmission or an optional automatic transmission. The latter is a five-speed affair with a manual mode, and it tacks on $1,200 to the sales price.

Note that the Mazda3 doesn’t benefit from the traction control system offered as an option with the GS. Seasoned drivers that have perfected their technique during a driving course won’t be bothered. Some will even welcome it. But everyone else will have to learn to massage the throttle with humility on slippery surfaces…

Black on the inside

The interior of the Mazda3 is reminiscent of small BMWs in a very particular way: it’s decked out in wall-to-wall black. Like a 128i or a 335i, only the orange backlit instruments brighten up the austere cabin – and only at night.

The claustrophobic will prefer the Mazda3 GS, which can at least be enlivened with beige cloth seats if you choose a red or pearl white body.

It must be said that the interior of a Mazda3 isn’t very big. The well-contoured bucket seats are fitted and the rather low seat cushion isn’t adjustable, except for the driver. Thankfully, drivers enjoy a tilt telescopic steering wheel that allows them to refine the driving position.

Particularly form-fitting, the bucket seats are very comfortable.

In the back, though, the short wheelbase limits foot- and legroom. What’s more, the elegantly curved ceiling reduces headroom. Then again, if your passengers are of the kiddie variety, these spatial shortcomings won’t be too bothersome. However, if you’re chauffeuring a couple teens that are growing like weeds and stuck behind tall front occupants, expect some tense family moments.

And now for the downsides

To make rear access easier, the automaker carved an indentation for the top half of the doors. This has resulted in a sharp door tip… one that can catch an adult in the stomach or a child in the face. A detail that should be corrected.

Also irritating about the Mazda3 is its trunk – its small trunk. Its usable volume is among the least generous of any compact sedan. And its short, narrow opening proves quite inconvenient when loading large objects. You’re better off stashing them in the cabin and sacrificing the rear seats, that, very thankfully, are split 60/40 and fold down.

The Mazda3’s trunk is one of the least spacious of its class.

Lastly, the body’s gorgeous profile, low and elegantly streamlined, reduces rear visibility. A common defect of many a modern car. Reverse manoeuvres thus require particular attention.

Not as basic as you’d think

On the other hand, the compact car’s list of equipment is rather comprehensive. The automaker only offers two options for the GX: the autobox and air conditioning ($1,195). However, Mazda wasn’t stingy when it came to air bags and curtains.

What’s more, the audio system is very respectable considering the price of the car. It’s even iPod compatible. The driver also benefits from electric side mirrors, electric central locking and electric windows. That’s enough to make anyone question its so-called “basicness”! And that is the crucial element for the target consumer.

Auto123.com

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook Computer (Intel Atom N270, 120GB HDD, 1GB)

The “v” in the Dell Mini 10v’s name is seemingly there to indicate value for thrifty Netbook shoppers. The system is in many ways hard to distinguish from its more expensive cousin and is one of the better under-$299 Netbook packages we’ve seen.

It does, however, lack the high-end configuration options of the regular Mini 10, including a higher-resolution screen and mobile broadband antenna.

Our $334 review unit adds a larger 6-cell battery, and there are also CPU and hard-drive upgrade options, but no way to get the higher-resolution 1,366×768 screen, HDMI output, or mobile broadband options available in the Mini 10. But if you’re fan of the wide flat keys and reasonably slim design of the Mini 10, the less expensive Mini 10v version offers the same basic look and feel for less.

Price as reviewed / Starting price	$334 / $299
Processor	1.6GHz Intel Atom N270
Memory	1GB, 533MHz DDR2
Hard drive	160GB 5,400rpm
Chipset	Mobile Intel 945GSE
Graphics	Intel GMA 950 (integrated)
Operating System	Windows XP Home SP3
Dimensions (WD)	10.3 x 7.2 inches
Height	1.0 – 1.9 inches
Screen size (diagonal)	10.1 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	2.9 / 3.4 pounds
Category	Netbook

Like the Dell Mini 10, the Mini 10v is not as streamlined as Asus’ latest Netbooks or the minimalist HP Mini 5101. Instead Dell’s Mini line takes its design cues from the bigger laptops in the Inspiron family, with similar rounded edges and shiny surfaces.

Unlike Dell’s older 9-inch Netbook keyboards, there are no missing keys or major space compromises, and important keys, such as the shift, tab, and control keys, are relatively full-size. The wide, flat keys go nearly edge-to-edge, but the long, letterbox-style touchpad has to squeeze its mouse buttons directly into the lower left and right corners of the pad. It’s far from our favorite Netbook touchpad, but better than the similar long touchpad with buttons on the far sides found on HP’s Mini 110.

The 10.1-inch display on the Mini 10v is a standard 1,024×600 one, so if you want a more HD experience, you’ll need to trade up to the Mini 10, which offers an option for a 1,366×768 screen (which we liked a lot). The inset display on the Mini 10v kept glare down, but this is still a very glossy screen.

	Dell Inspiron Mini 10v	Average for category [Netbook]
Video	VGA	VGA
Audio	headphone/microphone jacks	headphone/microphone jacks
Data	3 USB 2.0, SD card reader	2 USB 2.0, SD card reader
Expansion	None	None
Networking	Ethernet, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi,	Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Optical drive	None	None

While the Mini 10 has an HDMI port, with the less expensive 10v you’re stuck with a basic VGA output, plus SD and 3 USB ports. Trading up to 802.11n Wi-Fi is a $25 upgrade, and adding Bluetooth is $20.

Dell’s reputation for offering highly configurable systems is well-earned, and even though the 10v doesn’t offer as many options as the regular Mini 10, you can still swap in a larger 160GB hard drive for $25 or a slightly faster Intel Atom N280 CPU, also for $25.

Like most of the Netbooks we’ve reviewed, the Dell Mini 10v uses the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor (although one interesting exception is the non-v version of the Mini 10, which uses the Atom’s Z530 alternative). Its performance was exactly in line with typical Netbooks, and it works well for basic Netbook tasks, including Web surfing, basic media viewing, and working on office docs, which is what these low-cost, low-power systems are primarily intended for.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 10v ran for 5 hours and 45 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 6-cell battery. That’s very impressive, even for a low-power Netbook. However, the battery is especially bulky and sticks out from the bottom of the system, raising up the rear end. A smaller 3-cell battery is what you get in the base $299 configuration.

Dell offers an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Adding on-site service (after what the company calls “remote diagnosis”) seems reasonable at $19, and moving up to two years is a $59 upgrade. Online support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, an online knowledge base, and driver downloads.

Multimedia multitasking test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Jalbum photo conversion test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Apple iTunes encoding test
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Video playback battery drain test
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Cnet

Reviews:LG Lotus Elite (Sprint)

The LG Lotus was probably the first fashion-forward messaging phone we ever encountered back in 2008. It sported an unusual square design, and we were enamored with the version that had the decorative purple tattoo. Apparently fashionistas were enticed as well, as it even made its way to the New York Fashion Show that year.

Fast-forward to 2010 and LG has introduced an improved successor to the Lotus, dubbed the LG Lotus Elite. It still has that familiar square design, but it is much sleeker than before. More importantly, it now has a stunning touch screen as the external display, where you can quickly access oft-used functions like messages and contacts without having to open the phone. We were disappointed that most of the features are still the same, but at least it now has integration with social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The LG Lotus Elite is priced quite competitively at only $99.99 with a two-year service agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate. It also earned a nomination for our Best of CES awards in the cell phones category at CES 2010.

Design
The LG Lotus Elite carries on the fashion phone reputation of its predecessor with an unquestionably bold and unique design. Measuring 3.43 inches wide by 2.44 inches long by 0.75 inch thick, the Lotus Elite pays homage to the original Lotus with its square shape but has a style all its own. Indeed, the Lotus Elite is much sleeker and curvier than the blocky Lotus, with rounded corners and shiny chrome detail along its borders. The phone feels like it is solidly constructed; the hinge feels sturdy as well. LG also wisely debuted the Lotus Elite in a stunning bold red decorated with a whimsical floral tattoo, which appears to be a ploy to attract the female demographic.

The LG Lotus Elite has an external touch screen on the front.

However, the biggest design update for the Lotus Elite lies in its external display. It measures 2.4 inches diagonally, which takes up quite a bit of room on such a small phone. It also boasts 262,000 colors and 320×240 pixels, which makes everything look sharp and colorful. Not only that, but the display is now a touch screen. Indeed, you can use your finger to tap through options just as you would with any touch-screen handset. The display is resistive, not capacitive, so it’s not quite as responsive as the screen on the iPhone or the Nexus One. But since the external touch screen on the Lotus Elite only has access to a limited menu of options, it’s not that big a deal.

The first thing you’ll notice when you activate the external touch screen is that it has animated wallpaper–the one we have has an animation of a flying butterfly, for example. You will also see the typical indicators like battery and signal strength plus the date and time. There’s also an icon for any missed calls or messages. Beyond that, you can customize it so that you can access your messages, photo gallery (or slide show); speed dial contacts, recent call history and contacts list without having to open the phone. You simply swipe horizontally across the screen to flip through them. You can also use the external display as a camera viewfinder. You can adjust the external display’s screensaver and if you want, you can calibrate the touch screen for added accuracy. On the whole, we found the external touch screen intuitive to use.

The LG Lotus Elite comes with an optional red leather strap.

On the left side are a 2.5mm headset jack, the volume rocker, and the charger jack, while the camera key, screen lock key, and microSD card slot are on the right. On the back of the phone is a tiny little metal loop on which you can tie on a cell phone charm if you wish. The LG Lotus Elite even comes with an optional red leather strap to attach to it.

The LG Lotus Elite has a 2.0-megapixel camera right on the hinge.

Interestingly, the 2.0-megapixel camera on the Lotus Elite is located right on the hinge of the phone. When the phone is closed, the camera lens appears on the upper left of the phone’s rear. When the phone is open, the lens appears on the hinge in between the display and the keypad. Since you’ll be using the internal display as a viewfinder at that point, it makes it much easier to take self-portraits.

Flip open the phone and you’ll find another 2.4-inch display with the same color support and pixel resolution. Unlike the external display, though, the internal one is not a touch screen. It does feature Sprint’s OneClick interface, which is a center carousel of shortcut tiles along the bottom row of the home screen. This lets you quickly access phone functions like your messages, your account details, Sprint Navigation, your Yahoo Mail, and more. Notable shortcuts include quick views of your Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace accounts, plus a Google menu that gives you access to Google search, Gmail, plus YouTube. You can easily add and remove shortcut tiles from the OneClick carousel if you wish.

You can adjust the display’s brightness, the backlight time, the font size for messages, the browser, the notepad, the dial digits, and applications, and you can have picture IDs for contacts, unsaved numbers, and private/unknown numbers. The main menu can be arranged in either grid view or list view.

Underneath the display and the hinge are the navigation controls. They consist of two soft keys, a rectangular four-way toggle plus a middle Menu/OK key, a dedicated speakerphone key, a Back key, and the Talk and End/Power keys. With the exception of the toggle, the speakerphone, and the Back key, the keys are mostly flat. Still, there is enough separation between each key that we could still navigate by feel.

The LG Lotus Elite has three dedicated shortcut keys above the QWERTY keyboard.

Beneath that are three dedicated shortcut keys labeled Social, Email, and Text. The Social key can be mapped to one of three social network applications–Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace. The Email and Text keys are fairly self-explanatory–the Email key leads to the e-mail in-box, while the Text key leads to a new text message.

Right underneath that is the full QWERTY keyboard. It’s spacious, and all keys are raised above the surface for quick and easy typing. The number keys are highlighted in orange, and we like that the space bar is larger than the rest of the keys. The emoticon key is a nice touch as well.

Features
The LG Lotus Elite has a 1,000-entry phone book with room in each entry for six numbers, three e-mail addresses, a memo, a URL, an instant-messenger username, a street address, a birth date, a job title, and a company name. You can save the entries to caller groups, pair them with a photo for caller ID, or with any of 33 polyphonic ringtones and any of four vibrations. Essential features include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, an alarm clock, a calendar, a calculator, a notepad, a world clock, and a stop watch. Slightly more advanced features include USB mass storage mode, wireless backup service, voice command and voice dialing, a voice memo recorder, a document viewer, stereo Bluetooth, and a mobile Web browser. The Lotus Elite also has A-GPS and support for Sprint’s location-based services like Sprint Navigation and Sprint Family Locator.

Messaging is at the forefront of the Lotus Elite’s features. Of course it has text and multimedia messaging, but it also has instant messaging (AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo), and e-mail. You can set up e-mail from a variety of Web providers like AOL Mail, AIM Mail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail, plus other POP or IMAP servers. You can also set up your work or corporate e-mail, which is especially easy if your company uses Outlook Web Access (OWA). If your company does not use OWA, you have to sign up with Sprint’s own Mobile Email Personal Account that requires you to download software to your office computer.

Since the Lotus Elite is equipped with EV-DO Rev. 0, you get access to Sprint’s array of broadband services. They include Sprint TV for live on-demand television shows, Sprint Movies for pay-per-view movies, Sprint Radio for streaming radio, plus Sprint Music for purchasing and downloading songs over the air. Each song is $0.99 and includes a simultaneous download to the PC as well. The music player on the Lotus Elite has a very bare-bones interface that mirrors that of the Sprint Music Store. You can create and edit your playlists, and you can also transfer your songs via USB. Options include repeat, shuffle, and the ability to send the player to the background. You are encouraged to store additional tracks via a microSD card.

The LG Lotus Elite takes mediocre photos.

Like with the original Lotus, the Lotus Elite has a 2.0-megapixel camera. It can take pictures in four resolutions (1,600×1200, 1,280×960, 640×480, and 320×240), and three quality settings. other settings include four color tones, brightness (auto and manual), five white balance presets plus a manual mode, nine fun frames, a 4x zoom (but only when not in the highest resolution), a self-timer, a night mode, and four shutter sounds plus a silent option. There’s also a camcorder, which can record videos in either as much as the memory card will allow, or a shorter video mail version. Videos can be recorded in three resolutions–QVGA (320×240), 176×144, or 128×96– and three quality settings. Other camcorder options are similar to that on the still camera. Photo quality was not as good as we had hoped. We had to hold quite still for the image not to be blurry, and the colors seemed muted and dull.

As we mentioned earlier, you can customize your Lotus Elite with graphics for wallpaper and screensavers. You can take your own, or download more from Sprint’s mobile store. The same goes for any ringtones or alert sounds. The Lotus Elite also comes with a few games and applications–demo versions of Family Feud and Minigolf Las Vegas 4 Prizes, Frogger Evolution, NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile, NFL Mobile Live, and Social Zone. Like with the graphics and sounds, you can download more of those from Sprint as well.

Performance
We tested the LG Lotus Elite in San Francisco using Sprint’s network. Call quality was quite impressive on the whole. On our end, we heard our callers clearly without any distortion, plus their voices sounded natural as well. Automated-calling systems recognized our voice just fine.

Callers also reported very good call quality. They said there was hardly any background noise or static, and we sounded so clear, it was almost that of landline quality. They did say our voice sounded slightly robotic, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. Speakerphone calls, on the other hand, was quite poor. They said we sounded rather muffled, even when we spoke relatively close to the microphone. On our end, we thought they sounded tinny, albeit with a lot of volume.

The same goes for the music audio quality–the phone’s tiny speakers were just not enough to put out quality bass. The overall audio was quite tinny and thin as a result. We would certainly recommend a headset for better audio.

EV-DO speeds were acceptable. Though the speeds are not as fast as EV-DO Rev A, we still managed to stream video from Sprint TV without any buffering issues. We also downloaded a 1.5MB song in just 40 seconds.

The LG Lotus Elite has a rated battery life of 5.9 hours talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Lotus Elite has a digital SAR of 1.2 watts per kilogram.

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The good: The LG Lotus Elite has a striking design with an external touch screen, a great QWERTY keyboard, and plenty of messaging and multimedia features. It has great call quality as well.

The bad: The LG Lotus Elite has similar features with its predecessor and we think the photo quality could be improved. We also wished the speakerphone had better audio quality. The LG Lotus Elite’s unique look might not be for everyone.

The bottom line: The LG Lotus Elite’s stylish design, healthy feature set, and excellent performance makes it a great messaging phone choice for Sprint customers.

Cnet